Potatoes have phosphoric acid. Insert a source of zinc and the two will react to produce a small amount of electrical current.
Very small. Will a potato run the video game Doom? No, but if you use about 700 potato pieces, YouTube user Equalo discovered, you can run Doom on a graphing calculator:
This was a long, difficult project that Equalo completed while working a full-time job. As a result, the potato pieces became moldy and stinky by the end of the six-day effort.
Impressed? That's not all. One of the best parts of this project are Equalo's lyrics about it, which you can sing to the tune of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air:
Now, this is a story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute
Just sit right there
I'll tell you how I ran Doom on some potatoes when nobody else cared
In western America born and raised
On the floor of my garage I spent most of my days
Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool
And boiling some potatoes, bought a big wire spool
When a Raspberry Pi turned out no good
And wouldn’t boot up, I tried hard as I could
I spent one little night and the potatoes smelled weird
I said ‘I better get this thing working or I’ll pull out my hair'
I added more potatoes here day after day
But I lacked the amps to take me all of the way
So I gave it some thought hoping I’d find the ticket.
I kept going and said, 'I might as well stick with it'.
First pass, yo this is bad
Stinky potatoes have more power, can’t explain that.
Is this what it takes to play this game tonight?
Hmmmmm this might be alright.
But wait I fear I’m missing, something isn’t quite grand
Is this the type of place I just end my cool plans?
I don't think so
I'll see where it goes
I hope they're prepared for Doom on potatoes
Well, the plan panned out and affirmed my doubt
The Raspberry Pi needed amps at a higher amount
I ain't trying to get invested so deep in this idea
I could buy more potatoes, or try again next year
I sat for a minute and then it became clear
I’d use a graphing calculator and finish this here
If anyone says that’s not Doom that’d be fair
But I thought 'Nah, forget it' - 'Yo, homes get the TI-84 prepared'
I pulled up the game at about 7 or 8
And I yelled to the potatoes 'Yo homes smell ya later'
I looked at my kingdom
I was finally there
To sit on my throne as the first potato Doom player
-via Geekologie
Sorry.